More often than not, the natural setting is a main reason for a buyer to purchase a home. But as beautiful as a landscape may be during the day, landscape lighting offers an incredible opportunity to make the space truly amazing after dark. When it comes to lighting a landscape, the trees and plantings of your landscape can do much of the work in creating a visual texture. To enhance the safety and beauty of your landscape, check out these five outdoor lighting options for drawing attention to trees and plantings in Buffalo Grove and Highland Park, IL.
The Problems with Overhead Lights and the Advantage of Low-Lying Lighting
When a light is placed above our sight lines, there are two problems that occur. First, these lights can create a glare when they make eye contact that is annoying at best and dangerous at worst. Second, these lights also create a substantial amount of shadow when someone is walking away from them. Since these two problems make nighttime vision more difficult, they make overhead lighting a poor lighting strategy for a landscape - unless you use trees.
The Texture of Moonlighting
An interesting lighting strategy is moonlighting, which is something that can greatly amplify the romantic mood of a landscape. This process needs a tall deciduous tree to house a light fixture near the top. This bluish-white light should be pointed directly toward the ground. The white light that comes from these fixtures will wash and spread between the leaves and branches of the tree, mimicking the light of the moon. This technique draws attention to the texture of the tree as well as what lies beneath. The light that eventually passes through the tree will project an ever-evolving show on the ground as the leaves dance in the slightest breeze.
The Drama of Spotlighting
Spotlights put the focus on objects that are nearby. They are meant to draw attention rather than let things blend together. The spotlight has long been used to make things feel much more beautiful at night. Spotlights are typically placed at ground level and angled upwards against the trunk of a tree, to highlight the textures and illuminate the lower parts of the canopy. Spotlights should be used sparingly, allowing only the most special trees to steal the show.
The Ambience of Washing
Washing is a landscape lighting technique of using spotlights to create ambient light. Start by pointing some lights at an angle along a blank vertical surface such as the exterior of your home in between windows, or a smooth retaining wall. The light will bounce backwards and wash over the surrounding area. Even better, it will also help draw attention to the finer details of your home.
The Subtlety of Landscape Lighting: Less Is More!
To let the natural beauty of your landscape really shine, it’s important not to overwhelm it with light. A gorgeous layered effect can be achieved by putting most of the lighting in the outdoor living spaces and walkways; fewer lights moving outward in the landscape; and even fewer still “randomly” placed among shrubs, trees, and plant beds to make for a beautifully smooth and gradual transition from well-lit spaces to a darker landscape beyond. As you move away from the outdoor living space, the lights beyond it will contribute to a more dimensional landscape that’s pleasing to the eye - and highlights important trees, shrubs, and plantings.
